Resident Evil: Revisited
by mickelus
Summary: Story start just before Extinction. Follows the convoy as they pick up new members up to when they meet Alice. There will be various points where I wander away from canon, but hopefully I anger no one with my strange imaginings. There will be an original character. Please be nice to him, he only wants to fit in and be accepted...oh and to kill zombies, he will kill lots of zombies!
1. I Come Bearing Gifts

**A/N: **Ok, so I've decided to try my hand at writing a Resident Evil story (movie series fandom). Some things I'll tell you right off are different 1.) Alice stopped herself from killing Angela (as Umbrella made her do according to the accepted canonical novelization) 2.) Angela, Jill, Carlos, and L.J. all end up as part of Claire's convoy. That's all the "spoilers you get for now though.

**Chapter 1: I Come Bearing Gifts**

Kyle made his way back to their…his truck. It had been four years since the world went to Hell and he had just buried his last friend. Four year ago he had been dropped off at the dojo after school by his parents, he was supposed to graduate to the next level belt soon, he would have been moving up from brown (first kyu) to first degree black (first dan), but there had been no ceremony. Instead he and his sensei were forced to flee town with what they could carry. Once clear of the town they found an abandoned truck and loaded what they had in it. So they traveled the country avoiding the undead, helping others when they could, and training. Since the need was so great his sensei began teaching him how to use the traditional weapons of a ninja, such as the ninjato, the sai, the kama, even shuriken, because as the old man said, "Being a good shot with a gun or bow is great, but swords and knives don't run out of ammo."

Now four years later he buried his last friend. The old man had known his time was growing short, and it _was_ a small comfort knowing it was the damned sickness that took him, but old age instead. Though that didn't make the pain of his passing any easier really, Kyle had still had to put a bullet through his head to keep a promise to ensure he would not become one of those monsters.

Back at the truck Kyle unstrapped most of his gear to make the ride more comfortable hanging the various weapons and body armor from their place in the back of the cab. First came the two ninjato, short, straight bladed swords made of folded steel (much like the katana used by the samurai), then his tomahawk, followed by various other knives that he carried, finally he removed the excess tactical gear after laying his M4 carbine, pump-action shotgun, and compound bow on the passenger side front seat, keeping only his two Berettas on him while driving, revealing a young man of 16 about six foot three in height, with a muscular build, short black hair, bluish-green eyes, and sun tanned skin. With hard eyes that had no tears left in them, he had left them all at the grave for now, he set out to continue his constant journey across the wasteland that was once known as the United States of America, he was currently in southern Montana, he thought, it had been a while since he had bothered to look at the map.

Finally coming to a spot he could safely set up camp for the night, he parked at the top of a hill and set up several motion sensors at the bottom before getting back into the truck a settling down to a dinner consisting of a military style MRE. And drinking one of his many bottles of water, thanks to an army outpost they had raided a week before he was set as far as food rations for a long time to come and had water to last about a month, as well as ammo and weapon galore. After supper he opened up and started reading Patriot Games, Tom Clancy was his favorite author. Within a couple hours he had finally drifted off to a, thankfully, dreamless sleep.

Traveling alone certainly had its advantages, you only had to worry about yourself, no arguments over what to do or where to go, but the sometimes the drawbacks outweighed the benefits. So Kyle found himself stopping at almost every farmhouse he saw. Mostly it was a matter of walking up with a ninjato in each hand as he walked through the house, ending the undead lives of a few emaciated zombies and finding a few good supplies he could use. Now and then there would be people there but almost every time he would show up just a little too late to save them and he would then have to put them down.

A few months later he was found himself in what used to be Wyoming. By that time he was driving a U-Haul truck and towing a trailer along with his truck. He had been rather lucky, by his estimation, in the raids he had made on abandoned military installations. Currently he was scanning radio waves on the in cab CB radio he had taken from one of the rusted out Humvees. Kyle knew that with all the supplies he had found it would be selfish to keep it all to himself, especially when there were survivors out there in need; the boy had been tempted to find a farmhouse somewhere and barricade it to allow himself to rest for a while. He knew however that if his old teacher were still with him he would insist they find survivors to share their spoils with.

As he was passing through Cheyenne, Wyoming on I-80, after refueling all his vehicles along with the many gas cans he had, he finally heard a garbled transmission come over the radio _Claire…convoy…broadcasting…survivors…respond. Is anybody out there_? Not wanting to miss an opportunity he immediately picked up the mic, "This is Kyle O'Connor. I am just west of Cheyenne on I-80 and heading west. Over."

_Good to hear from you Kyle. This is Mikey representing Clair Redfield's convoy. We are midway between Cheyenne and Laramie. How many are with you? Over._

Kyle took a moment before responding the sadness obvious in his voice, though he was talking to Mikey the rest of the convoy was on the same channel and heard the conversation, "Sadly it's just me now Mikey, but I have a U-Haul and trailer that are packed with supplies. If you wanna set up a location I can meet with you anytime. Over"

After a short pause, Kyle assumed so Mikey could confer with the convoy leader he got a reply. _We are currently stopped at a truck stop. We'll wait here for you. Over._

"Roger that!" Came Kyle's reply, he was surprisingly excited about seeing people for the first time in a long time, "I'll see you when I get there. Over and out."

Just over an hour later Kyle saw what could only be the convoy coming up in the distance. He was soon able to make out various vehicles an old school bus, a three axle two and a half ton military truck with two sets of "duallys" on the twin rear axles commonly called the "deuce and a half", a fuel tanker, an ambulance, a news van, and a yellow Hummer all parked close together in the truck stop parking lot. He pulled in parking a safe distance from the other vehicles, knowing how paranoid people had become since the world ended, himself included. Before he stepped out he made sure to announce himself. He picked up the mic for the CB and said, "All right Mikey. I'm here; shall we get started with the introductions?" Without waiting for a reply he stepped out of his vehicle and walked until he was halfway between his vehicles and the convoy.

Before long he was joined by a red headed woman, young yet older than him, a Hispanic looking man, an African-American man and woman, a blond young man with glasses, and following a short distance behind them was a beautiful young blonde girl about his age. "Hi, I'm Claire Redfield." Said the red head offering her hand for the newcomer to shake, Kyle took the offered hand with a smile, "You must be Kyle." She concluded done with a firm handshake.

"Yes ma'am. That'd be me."

"It's always good to see a survivor." Said Claire, turning to introduce the others with her, "This is Carlos Olivera," she indicated the Hispanic man, turning to the two Africa-Americans she introduce the man as L.J. and the woman as Betty, the resident nurse.

Before she could move on to the blond man Kyle interrupted, "Lemme guess, Mikey?" Mikey just nodded and the girl behind the group smiled before looking away. "And who's that there?" Kyle asked indicating the blonde girl with a nod.

Claire and Carlos both spun on their heels before the girl could sneak away, "Dammit K! I told you to stay with the convoy!" Shouted Claire, obviously upset with the girl, but quickly calming down turned back toward Kyle, "Well since you're here…that's K-Mart. Yes that's what she goes by, it's where we found her a couple years ago, she wanted a fresh start."

Kyle nodded and gave the girl a brief smile, which caused her to blush, before turning to address Claire once again, "Well, now that initial introductions are over. Would you like me to introduce you to the supplies I have to share?" He asked, waving his hand to where the U-Haul was parked. With a nod Claire and the others followed him to the back of the vehicle.

"Over the past few weeks I've come across several abandoned military convoys and outposts." He explained as he opened the back of the U-Haul, before he lifted the door he added, "This is part of what I found." The back of the box truck was almost fully loaded with cans of food, most of which still had labels. There was chili, pork and beans, peas, corn, green beans, and many other things. "There's more in the trailer," he said to the stunned group. He opened the trailer to reveal it to be full of boxes with the letters MRE printed on them in large black letters.

Much to everyone's surprise Claire hugged Kyle nearly in tears and whispered to him, "You don't know how badly we needed this. We were down to a couple cans of fruit."

Kyle embarrassed from the unaccustomed contact just mumbled, "Well I'm happy to help." As Claire broke off from the embrace.

Kyle spoke again, "So do you guys have a food truck we can transfer this to. Unless you want the U-Haul, cause I don't plan on driving it anymore. By the way, for now I wanna leave it alone, but I have a lot of weapons and ammunition as well, but we can go into that after the other supplies are sorted."

Claire turned to Carlos and L.J., "Can you guys handle that once the food is taken care of?"

"No problem." They replied.

Finally Kyle turned to Betty, "Since you're the nurse I figure you drive the ambulance and are in charge of medical supplies? Well one of the convoys I came across had fully stocked medical trucks." Kyle said as they walked to the back of his pick-up which, aside from the large metal box for his weapons and ammo, was loaded with boxes of various medical supplies.

Betty, who's eyes widened in excitement had Kyle drive his truck over next to the ambulance as he along with Betty and K-Mart, transferred the supplies. While Claire had the rest of the convoy unloading the food stuff. Later that evening when everyone was celebrating the abundance of supplies, Kyle, recruiting the help of K-Mart and Mikey, climbed into the back of the U-Haul and opened a secret compartment, taking out several large, plain, cardboard boxes. The trio carried the boxes back to where all the people were gathered. "Okay everyone I have one more surprise for y'all!" Kyle shouted to get the attention of the whole convoy as he opened one of the boxes, "What celebration is complete without dessert?" He asked pulling out two boxes of Twinkies. "Enjoy!" He finished tossing the treats into, then set the rest of the boxes next to Otto so he could dole them out.

"So how are you guys doing as far as weapons and ammo?" Kyle asked walking up to L.J. and Carlos.

"Well we have plenty of weapons for those who know how to use them, but not enough ammo to use in training those who don't know." Answered Carlos while L.J. nodded solemnly.

"I should have enough weapons to arm all those old enough to handle a weapon, and I have a shit load of ammo in all different calibres. If Claire is willing to let us stay for a couple days we can get the everyone armed and trained."

The next day after a quick meeting with Claire and then the other adults in the convoy, they soon had all the untrained adults learning to shoot, K-Mart, being the only teenager in the convoy aside from Kyle, was allowed to be trained as well after she had a quick heart to heart with Claire. By the end of the day most had done well enough to be given one of the sub-machine guns or hand guns, there were a few, however, who just couldn't get the concept of aiming well enough and they were given shotguns. K-Mart had insisted that they let her try one of the assault rifles, Kyle and Carlos both looked to Claire, and after showing a surprising amount of skill K-Mart was given two hand guns, a shotgun, as well as an assault rifle.

That evening everyone was in good spirits as they sat down to eat supper. Kyle, who had found himself spending a lot of time with Claire, Carlos, L.J., Betty, and K-Mart, was sitting by a small fire just relaxing and talking with K-Mart, neither had realized just how much they missed being around someone their one age. The leaders and other adults in the convoy were glad that K-Mart had found another teenager, though it was obvious that she and Kyle were mature beyond their years. They had been forced to grow up faster than any kid should have to. The teens talked for a long time after supper had been eaten and most others had gone to bed, remembering TV shows, bands they liked, how they actually missed school. They avoided heavier topics, like family and friends they had lost, tonight was about remembering the fun and nonsensical times. They ended up falling asleep next to the fire. Neither waking up even when Claire and Carlos laid blankets on them.


	2. Confessions And Revelations

**A/N:** Well here's chapter 2. It took a bit of coaxing, but eventually all my thoughts came out onto the pages. Hope you enjoy and please review whether you like it or hate it all criticism is welcome.

**Confessions and Revelations**

The convoy stayed at the truck stop for a few days to enjoy a rest from having to scavenge for supplies. Claire was lying in the back of the Hummer late one afternoon, thanking whatever higher powers there were for the young man who had joined them so recently. _Maybe our luck is gonna change for a while. Not that it means we can let our guard down I guess, but we can relax in some ways, for now at least._ "Mind if I join you?" Claire was interrupted from her thoughts when K-Mart opened the back of the Hummer to climb in.

"Come on in K." Claire answered, moving to make room for the teen. "I don't think I've had a chance to ask you yet, but what do you think of Kyle?" Claire asked as K-Mart settled down next to her.

"He seems like a nice guy, he shared all those supplies with us, helped train the other adults in the convoy and he gave me a bunch of cool weapons so yeah I'd say he's pretty cool. Plus it's nice having someone my age around so I don't have to choose between hanging out with the little kids or you old people." She answered jokingly, giving Claire a playful shove.

"So you like him eh?" Claire asked curiously, ignoring the comment about her being old, her tone implying that she thought K-Mart might have a crush on the new convoy member.

"No, he's not really my type."

"Oh really, and just what is your type?"

"Oh I'm not really very picky; I just prefer a more _feminine_ look." K-Mart replied, making sure to place extra emphasis on the word "feminine".

Claire appeared confused for a moment before her eyes widened when she realized what K-Mart meant, "Oh, wow…you're…wow. I guess I need to work on my gaydar a bit."

K-mart was laughing at Claire's reaction, "You shoulda seen the look on yer face Claire. It was priceless!" The teen managed to say once she had stopped laughing.

"Glad I could entertain you. So as a complete random change of the subject, are you ready to start moving again tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I think I can speak for everyone when I say we're all a bit bored being here so long. Not that this wasn't a nice change of pace, but I think everyone is a little anxious to be on the road again."

"I agree it's time to start moving. At least we don't have to worry too much about supplies aside from water."

The two lay in the back of the Hummer dozing in silence, K-Mart with her head resting on Claire's shoulder until Carlos and Kyle came by to wake them up for supper. In a week's time with the adults only eating twice a day and the children (K-Mart and Kyle included at the adults insistence that they were still growing and needed more nutrition) eating three meals, they had barely made a dent in the food that had been brought in the U-Haul truck and trailer, each full to its maximum 7,500 lb. capacity. They were set for a while, that night Claire announced that they would be moving again in the morning, making everyone happy with the news.

That night K-Mart lay across the back seat of the Hummer unable to sleep with the many thoughts running through her head. She sat up and watched Claire sleeping in the back of the hummer on a thin mattress, the two alternated who got to sleep on the more comfortable mattress and who had to sleep on the back seat. _God I wish I could share her bed._ She thought mesmerized by the sleeping red head, _How do I tell her how I feel? Weird that just the other day I was asking myself how to tell her I was a lesbian, but that just slipped out today. Huh, maybe the rest will just come out when the time is right. I just hope that when I do tell her that she doesn't brush it off as a teenage crush._ K-Mart tucked a stray strand of hair behind Claire's ear, causing the red head to stir in her sleep. K-Mart lay back down and slowly fell asleep thinking about the convoy leader.

The next day after breakfast was eaten everyone was ready for to be on their way. Once the last few things had been reloaded Claire led the way back onto the interstate in the Hummer with K-Mart riding shotgun followed by Mikey in the news van, then Betty and L.J. in the ambulance, Otto was driving the school bus with the most of the rest of the survivors, following behind the bus was Carlos driving the deuce and a half, then Chase in the fuel tanker, and finally Kyle brought up the rear in his pick-up.

They stop after every two hundred miles or there about to let everyone stretch their legs from being confined to the vehicles. At one such stop Kyle displayed his expertise with his ninjato by taking out a group of five undead before Claire or Carlos could even draw their guns. The convoy looked at him in awe, he shrugged, "Saves ammo."

Later on he was talking with Claire and the other drivers, "We should find a town and hit up a sporting goods store, in my opinion, and something my sensei ingrained in me, everyone should carry a long blade, a machete if you have no specialized training, or something like an aluminum baseball bat. They're good for when you run out of ammo, they double your arm length in most cases and they save ammo when you come across small groups. Plus the bats will be something the older children can carry, make them feel like they're contributing."

Claire looked at Carlos who seemed to be thinking it over then nodded to Claire, "Ok," Replied their leader, "We'll look into it at the next town. Do you think you, Carlos, and L.J. can handle it?" Kyle and the two men in question nodded in affirmation, "Alright, let's load up and get back on the road."

Back in the Hummer K-Mart and Claire were talking about Kyle, "He seems to know what he's doing. He has a lot of knowledge on how to survive, his sensei taught him well. He told me his sensei died of old age about a month ago. That's so rare in this Hell." K-Mart said.

"Yeah, I don't know what we woulda done if he hadn't shown up. He is a great and welcome addition to our ever changing family here. I understand that he was trained and raised after hell broke loose by his sensei, but his knowledge and ability to formulate plans so quickly makes me wonder what he was like back when there was still civilization."

"Well one time when we were talking he told me at least what school was like for him. Before the world ended he was thirteen and a junior in high school. So that means he's pretty damned smart. He'll definitely be a good asset and he's a good guy in general, the kids like him, and so do the adults."

"What would I do without you K? You're like my own blonde spy."

"I dunno," K-Mart replied and then added under her breath, "I have a list of things you could do with me though, some I'm not sure are physically possible."

"What's that K?"

"Oh nuthin, just talkin to myself."

Later on Kyle, Carlos and L.J. climbed out of Kyle's truck and entered a Big5 sporting goods stored in a small town on the border of Wyoming and Utah. They went through grabbing all available baseball bats, machetes, and then grabbed whatever ammo was left behind by other looters, along with fire starters, first aid kits and propane tanks for the camp stoves, as well as grabbing all the clothing they could get their hands on. Once back at the convoy the clothing was quickly handed out and the other supplies stored to be sorted through once they made camp for the night.

Several hours later, just before sunset, the convoy came to a halt at the Desert Trail Motel. They stopped a few hundred yards away to try and reach any potential survivors before Claire decided to send Carlos and L.J. to scout the hotel, Kyle volunteered to go with them as driver and wait in the vehicle in case they needed a quick getaway. The two men got out and slowly entered the motel, weapons ready. Several minutes and a few gunshots later the building was cleared. The only injury was L.J. getting grazed by the bullet that Carlos shot to kill the zombie that had knocked the black man down and was poised to bite him.

When the rest of the vehicles pulled up they parked them in a large circle in front of the building and made sure the rear doors and all the windows of the motel were sealed. Some convoy members set up tents within the protection of the "wagon-circle", tidied up and claimed the motel rooms, wanting to sleep on a real mattress, while still others chose to sleep under the stars. After ensuring that the few elder members had first choice on the real beds, Claire helped K-Mart set up their own three-man tent. While they were finishing that task Carlos reported to her that they had a one hundred yard perimeter on all sides of the motel.

By the time the camp was set was already waiting for everyone at the back of the deuce ready to hand out meals, tonight everyone got an MRE, while the kids ten and under got cans of either ravioli or spaghetti. After supper Kyle walked up to Claire with Carlos and Chase in tow, "Do you have a way to test if water is potable?" He asked.

"Yeah, Why?" Was the reply from the red haired woman, as she glanced at Carlos and Chase who both shrugged.

"Follow me, I'll show you." He answered and began walking around to the back of the building.

Carlos, Chase, Claire, and K-Mart followed him and he pointed out a five hundred gallon tank sitting on a trailer with a cracked tongue. "Even with the cracked tongue on the trailer I figured you'd wanna see this. Do you have any welding equipment?"

"Yeah we do, in Mikey's rig." Chase answered.

"Awesome, if we can get this repaired the deuce could haul it no problem. Hell I could haul it if need be." Kyle said, happy to help his new found family once again.

"Good find kid." Carlos said as Claire placed her hand on his shoulder and nodded her thanks.

"K-Mart, go tell Betty to bring her water test kit over here while I make my rounds with the others." Claire said and the teen gave a mock salute and turned to walk away.

Claire stared after her mesmerized by the young woman. _Wow! Look at her. She's really grown a lot in these few years, she's got a really fine…_ Claire was broken from her train of thought by Kyle walking up next to her. He smirked, as if he knew what she had just been thinking causing the usually calm, collected woman to blush, "She likes you, you know that right?"

"What? No way." Claire looked around hoping no one else heard their conversation.

"Oh come on Claire. She doesn't even try to hide it, though it's common for the object of a person's affection to not notice, but we'll avoid that topic if you wish. Are you to the point yet that you can admit to yourself that you have feelings for her deeper than friendship?" Claire just stood there silently, unable to respond, _Do I? Do I really have true feelings for her, or is it just lust._

"I honestly am not sure how I feel about her. I don't want to do anything if it's just lust cause I don't wanna hurt her if she has real feelings for me. What do you think?" She asked looking at Kyle, truly worried in her uncertainty.

"I can't really give you any advice, having never been in love myself, but I can say that you and she should probly have a talk. Take some time to sort yourself out, but don't wait too long cause in this world you don't know how long you have. As I said I'm no expert, but your unwillingness to hurt her by not loving her back tells me you do feel something real for her." Answered the boy.

"How did you become so wise in the ways of the world?" She asked nudging his arm.

He laughed softly them said in a voice lightly tinged with pain, "I had a great teacher and before that my parents showed me how to live and love and how to treat and observe others. Don't worry, it doesn't really hurt too bad to remember them all I move on a little more each day, and carry them all with me here and here." He said placing his hand on his chest over his heart then touching his fingers to his temple.

"You know you and K-Mart really do have a lot in common. You know what to say to make people feel better and what to say to make them think, or to help them through their problems. I am saddened at times to think just how fast you guys had to grow up. Yet I can't help think how proud I am of the person she's becoming and I'm starting to feel the same about you in that way, and I'm sure your loved ones, wherever they are, are looking down on you proud of the man you are today. You truly are like a savior to us, fighting for those who can't and helping those who need it."

"Thanks Claire, that really does mean a lot." He said wrapping his arm around her shoulders as they walked back to camp, "I think that talk really helped both of us and I only meant to just shoot the breeze with you for a bit and maybe tease you about K-Mart." They laughed and talked a bit more, parting ways when they got back to camp. Claire went to make her rounds, checking on the survivors and Kyle went with Chase to relieve Mikey and Betty who were currently on watch.

Claire and K-Mart finished their respective duties and Claire told the rest of the convoy to not worry about the water tank until the next day. The duo turned in for the night and talked for a bit before drifting off to sleep, each wondering if the other woman felt the same and if she should make a move to find out.


	3. Damned Crows

**Damned Crows**

After his watch shift was over Kyle returned to his truck to try and get some sleep before the next day truly began. He remembered his earlier conversation with Claire. He was not usually so good at reading people aside from whether they were hostile or friendly, but people like Claire were sometimes easy to read because they tried to hide everything. _I wonder, will she take my advice?_ He thought as he slipped a peaceful sleep.

Today was one of those rare occasions that K-Mart found herself awake before Claire. So she decided to indulge in her favorite pastime, watching the convoy leader sleep. She looked to be happy and at peace when asleep. When she was no longer worried about the convoy and everything that went with it, K-Mart liked watching her whether asleep or awake and doing her job leading the survivors.

The young blonde was unclear as to whether or not she should say anything to Claire about how she felt, she had reconciled her feelings with herself several months ago. She had even worked up enough courage to talk to Mikey and even Carlos about it. They both listened and, though Carlos was a little shocked at her revelation, her two friends told her basically the same thing. That she should tell Claire when it felt right; she would know when the moment came, and to give Claire time once she told her before expecting a response. She decided to take their advice, the only problem was that "the right time" never seemed to come. _Maybe it's not meant to._ Said a small voice in her head, _Shut-up! I don't listen to you anymore remember. You told me to pull the trigger on daddy's rifle even after I saw she wasn't infected in that K-Mart store! So just go back to the silence you belong in!_ She responded angrily to the voice.

K-mart knew that if the world were still normal she would probably be seeing a profession about her potential mental instability, though the company she found herself in and the fact of living in a world where natural selection was law caused her to learn to control and contain that voice. Add that to the fact that the convoy had been forced to fight off individuals who had succumbed to the power of that deceitful voice made her strive even harder to ward it off. That is not to say that it was a complete hindrance, there had been a few times where she found herself corned by a zombie with no weapon and help to far away, and by heeding the voice she had come out unscathed. Most of the time however when it popped up it was just fucking annoying.

She would often talk to Otto, the quirky driver of the bus and the man in charge of rationing the supplies, he seemed like he would have been a crack head or meth junkie before hell broke loose, but he had actually been working on, and almost finished with his psychology degree. K-Mart felt okay talking to him because instead of trying to evaluate her he just took her at face value, gave her advice on how to control her emotions. She smiled at how easily her mind wandered as she watched the still sleeping redhead, judging by the sun she decided she should wake Claire up.

As she opened her mouth to speak she heard a sharp tapping sound on the window. Claire heard as well and jerked awake neither said a word as they looked out the windows of the Hummer and saw crows covering every available perch, there must have been around five hundred at the minimum. Claire made a call on the CB ordering everyone to stay in the vehicles, roll their windows up, and keep quiet.

"Oh my God, Claire, look at their eyes!" Whispered the blonde teen.

Claire looked closely at a nearby crow, instead of the dark brown or black color she should see in its eyes, they are solid blood red, "They've been feeding on infected flesh!" She hissed. Just then a sound in the bus caught all the birds' attention and the entire murder of undead crows took to the sky at once, "Let's get the Hell outta here!" She shouted over the radio.

"Fucking right!" Otto muttered in agreement as he put the bus in gear.

The crows had a different idea however and began dive-bombing the bus's windshield, blocking Otto's view and causing him to wreck.

"Claire!" K-Mart shouted urgently, "The bus!"

"Shit! Carlos, Betty, Mikey, we gotta evac the bus!" She shouted through the CB to the drivers of the deuce, the ambulance, and the news van respectively, the three vehicles with the most room. If need be she could fit a few survivors in the Hummer too.

Carlos quickly moved the large military truck into position and started quickly moving people from the bus to the back of the deuce. Once that was loaded Mikey got his van into position, "The ambulance is stuck!" Shouted Betty, "Chase, L.J. and I are gonna make a run for your tanker be ready."

"Ready and waiting Betty." Replied the Texas sharp shooter.

Claire was ready to move the Hummer into position when Mikey called over the radio that the bus was clear. There had been few casualties so far, especially with the help of the flamethrower mounted to the roof of Mikey's van. Carlos was about to climb back into his truck when he saw a girl, who had gotten lost in the shuffle, crawl out from under the van just as the flamethrower operator was knocked from his post by a small group of the crows. The weapon was jammed on and headed straight for the girl, Carlos threw himself in the path of the flames to do his best to protect the girl, though it would do nothing to save her in the end, while Kyle scrambled up to get the flamethrower under control. Neither man's actions would be in time to matter though. The flame would still burn and though Carlos had wrapped himself protectively around the girl it would kill both of them.

Suddenly the flames stopped just a few feet away from the girl and Carlos. The survivors couldn't believe their eyes, they saw a woman in shorts a t-shirt, and a duster staring the two huddled humans obviously concentrating. Then her eyes flashed, Kyle, Carlos and the girl were the only ones in the right position to see it, although the girl still had her eyes closed in fear. The mysterious woman moved her focus to the murder of crows, who had all begun to flee, sensing her power. She redirected the flames and quickly burned the infected birds until all that remained were a few ashes that slowly floated to the ground.

Kyle rushed over to the woman as she stumbled and then fell to her knees catching her before she fell to the ground unconscious. Carlos reassured the girl that she was alright and returned her to her friends who were now in the back of the military truck.

Several hours later the strange woman awoke in a room of the motel, she could tell she had company. Choosing to ignore the other person in the room for the moment she reached up to rub her forehead as the last of the headache she received for using her powers dissipated, she saw a bracelet on her wrist which appeared to be made from the rubber insulation you would find on wiring. She finally turned to smile at the girl in the room with her, "This yours?" she asked as she sat up on the bed indicating her wrist with the bracelet, her voice was hoarse and quiet from lack of use as well as the tiring effects of her powers.

"I made it for you…I gave it to you last night, for luck." K-Mart answered with a smile.

"Thanks, what's your name?"

"K-Mart," The woman's eyes narrow and her lips twitch in a slightly amused smile, "It's where they found me. Claire…and the others, a few years ago."

"Do you have another name?"

"I never liked it, everyone I knew and who knew me by it was dead…so I decided it was time for a new start." K-Mart explained,

"Can't argue with that."

"I've only told a few people since then…Claire, Carlos, Mikey…and …Otto…" K-Mart added trailing off at Otto's name with a sad look on her face. "I might tell you if you stick around long enough." She recovered regaining her smile.

"Well thanks, for whatever it was you did. Some of the others might be freaked by your…talent…but you saved Carlos, so that's all that I really care about. And Alice, it's nice to put a face to the name Carlos has told us about."

"Thanks K-Mart, well guess I should go properly introduce myself…"

They leave the motel interior and walk out to where they buried those that died in the attack; they lost Otto and three others, one of them a child. Everyone was filing through, paying respects. L.J., who had actually studied to be a priest for a short time, was saying a prayer for the dead.

Claire looked over at the two as they left the hotel, K-Mart putting on a pair of aviator sunglasses that she had found at one of their stops over the past few years. She was the group's best scavenger and one of the best at improvising with materials on hand. K-Mart separated from Alice to go pay her respects.

Carlos walked over with Claire, "Alice this is Claire Redfield, and she put the convoy together."

"Thank you for your help." Claire said sincerely, she was going to say more, but was called away by someone in the convoy.

"She's lost half the convoy in the past six months; soon there'll be more of us dead than living. Alice, what happened to you? Why did you leave after we got you out of Detroit?" Carlos asked as he and Alice walked.

"I couldn't stay, they were using me."

"What do you mean?"

"They were tracking me…I couldn't be around any of you. I woulda gotten you all killed…that's why I had to leave. They tried to control me, doing small things at first, like sabotaging equipment. I tried to break their control, but I guess I didn't have enough reason, until they tried to make me kill Angie…I had the gun aimed and they tried to make me pull the trigger, but I somehow managed to break their control. I left immediately after that."

"That's why you disappeared." Carlos stated rather than asked.

"I broke into one of Umbrella's facilities, hacked their computers and downloaded satellite trajectories and I've stayed off the grid since."

"And after the world ended? Why did you stay alone?"

"Cause it just safer if I'm not around people."

Kyle and Chase meanwhile were working on the trailer, when K-Mart came over to help. She didn't have much experience with mechanics, but figured it wouldn't hurt to learn. They had the axle almost fully repaired by noon. They took a break from the heat and K-Mart went and told Claire where they were with the repairs. While the three of them had been working on the trailer, Claire and L.J. had been checking to see if the bus was repairable. They took a break as well and Claire went off to find Alice.

"Got a minute?" She asked as she walked up to the newcomer who was leaning against the empty gas pumps.

"Sure," Alice replied.

"We're all grateful for what you did…"

"But how long am I gonna stay?" Alice interrupted only sounding a little bit hurt.

"Don't get me wrong, we truly _are_ grateful. They're all scared…except K-Mart, she's more or less intrigued, said you were like a Jedi." Claire smiled while talking about the teen.

"I don't blame them; people tend to die around me." Alice looked away.

"Not just you." Claire said sympathetically.

"I've got something you should see." Alice said.

A little later she Claire, Carlos, Betty, L.J., K-Mart, Chase, and Mikey were sitting in the back of the military truck going over the information in a notebook Alice had found.

"Claire, these transmissions are the best thing we've seen in months." Mikey said after having looked over the book.

"Alaska?" Asked Claire skeptically.

"It's worth checking out. We can't just ignore this."

"Do you know what kind of journey that would be?"

"A fucking long one." Chase offered.

"And at the end of it what? Those transmissions are dated six months ago. How many times have we answered a radio call, how many times have we been too late?"

"The transmissions say there's no infection up there, that it's safe…isolated." Alice added.

"These people in this convoy trust me with their lives, they don't need pipe dreams."

"Maybe that's exactly what they need." Carlos interjected, "Look at them Claire. Just six months ago there were fifty of us, then forty, now less than thirty. They're beginning to give up. Maybe what they need is a little hope…something to believe in." He continued.

Claire thought about it then turned to K-Mart, who shrugged having no argument for either side. She turned to Kyle who had been leaning against the truck, "What do you think?" She asked.

"I don't have much to add to either side. But I've been further north; this continent isn't just a desert wasteland. While the desert has been reclaiming its territory down here, forests and plains are thriving up in Canada, so there's a point pro Alaska, it's unknown for sure if there truly is no infection, point against. If I remember right from school the population of Alaska was less than one million so if there is infection up there it will be easier to deal with the undead we do come across. Still would wanna avoid big cities though like Juneau and Anchorage and Nome, but I say it's a good idea. It would be tough, we'd need to load up on cold weather gear, other survival stuff, but if we found an abandoned village, and I recommend aiming for a summer arrival time, it would be worth it."

Claire decided it was too big of a decision to be made by her alone, or even for the core group or "council", so they gathered the entire convoy and held a vote after giving them the details. It was a unanimous vote to try for Alaska and the survivors began to celebrate, feeling invigorated with new hope. Claire dropped down from the back of the truck, "I hope you're book is right." She said to Alice with no malice in her voice.

Later on after a very meager supper where everyone K-Marts age and younger was given food along with the few elderly people, the drivers met to discuss travel plans and resupplying. "The foods pretty much gone and the trucks runnin on empty." Carlos said.

"I've got half a tank." Stated Mikey. "Chase?"

"Ah shit, I ain't even got empty. I've got a hundred miles at most." Answered the cowboy.

Carlos opens up a map and they look over it in the firelight. After ruling out several small towns nearby that either they Alice or Kyle had been to recently Claire spoke up, "Vegas. It's the only sure bet."

"Well yeah there's a reason, Vegas is too damn dangerous." Carlos argued.

"Yep, that place is gonna be crawling with them sons of bitches." Chase agreed.

"She's right," Alice said, "Vegas is our only bet."

"Okay, what about the rest of the route?" Kyle asked.

"Well we could probably follow highway 93 north to I-84 in Idaho, stop for anything we might need in Boise. It's a big town, but not super big. Then follow the 84 west to Portland, Oregon, maybe refueling again. Then follow I-5 north past Seattle. I'd recommend another stop in either Everett, Washington, or Vancouver B.C. Then we continue working north." Carlos said after he and Chase conferred.

"What about taking I-15 to Barstow where we get on I-5, we'll bypass LA." Suggested K-Mart.

"That's not too dangerous," Kyle agreed, "We can stop in Stockton for further supplies if we need to. Then there's Medford, Oregon…Portland…Everett…Vancouver…" Kyle listed cities and then trailed of as he looked at the map. "Then we go through British Columbia and Yukon, make a stop in Whitehorse maybe, before finally getting to Alaska. Plus while we're in Washington we could always hit Fort Lewis, they may have some valuable supplies, and we're bound to find ammunition there if nothing else."

Claire and Alice smiled at the rout the two teens had worked out, "Kyle, K-Mart, I like it. We'll use your route. Now let's all get some sleep we've got a lot to do tomorrow." Said the red head.


	4. Vegas Baby!

**A/N:** Yes, this is finally an update for this story...sorry to those who have waited patiently. I hope you enjoy.

**Vegas Baby!**

The next day the convoy was up early and loaded up to strike out for Las Vegas. Claire and K-Mart rode in the Hummer as lead vehicle and Rory had Alice with him as rear guard. The rolled past the welcome to Vegas sign and were awestruck at how much of the city had been reclaimed by the desert. Many of the buildings on the outskirts were buried by sand and the streets were no longer paved with asphalt but desert sand. "What happened here?" K-Mart asked.

"No one here to hold back the sand…the desert's reclaiming the city." Claire replied.

"L.J. said there should be fuel pumps next to the valet sheds." Chase called over the radio.

Claire turned her hummer to the nearest hotel with valet parking, but the way was blocked by a shipping crate. They all dismounted the vehicles and Claire called for a winch. "Something doesn't feel right about this." K-Mart said, Kyle nodded his agreement as he thumbed off the safety of his M4 carbine.

Alice drew her shotgun as she stepped closer to the metal container to examine it.

"Hey Alice!" Kyle called before she got to the container.

The bioweapon turned just in time to catch the frag grenade the young man tossed to her. She nodded her thanks, knowing she was not the only one suspicious of a shipping container sitting in the middle of the road, practically untouched by the sand from the desert that had been so quickly reclaiming the rest of the city. She resumed her walk up to the container, shotgun and grenade ready if needed. Alice placed her ear against the door of the metal box and heard a growl followed by the sound of an exploding bolt being released. She quickly backpedalled bringing her shotgun to bear on the container. "Get back!" She ordered over her shoulder.

Kyle, Claire, Carlos, and LJ readied themselves next to Alice while K-Mart and Mikey made sure everyone else was taken care of in the fortified vehicles and Chase took up an over-watch position on a replica of the Eiffel Tower. The door fell outward and kicked up a cloud of dust. For several seconds nothing happened, then, suddenly the undead began swarming out of the shipping container. Alice took one out with her shotgun and simultaneously pulled the pin out of the grenade, throwing it into the container.

The resulting blast took out several of the walking corpses, but there were still plenty for the convoy members to be worried about. Alice and the others held their line as long as they could until Claire and Carlos were forced to retreat. LJ looked around at his friends as they fought against the slowly dwindling horde and then locked eyes with Carlos, who looked at him questioningly. The African American man lifted his shirt then, showing his friend where he had been bitten several days before, just below his right shoulder. Carlos was saddened but fought back his emotions for the time being, he gave LJ a quick nod and clasped the man's shoulder briefly. LJ took a grenade from Carlos' ammo belt and took off into the middle of the horde.

The infected man quickly had a large group of the undead swarming him. His last conscious act was to pull the pin with a smile. Thanks to LJ's kamikaze move Alice and the others were able to quickly take out the rest of the infected. Suddenly Alice froze in place just as another horde of undead burst through the door of a nearby building. The others began fighting, but Alice remained unmoving.

She could see and hear everything going on around her while her new friends were being attacked. Then her vision wavered and she was now seeing a satellite view of what used to be the southwestern United States. Thanks to the many alterations Umbrella had made to her she was able to trace the location of the signal the satellite was receiving, she used the camera on the satellite to get an image of the physical location of the signal. Once she had that information, which took just a couple seconds, she concentrated her mind until through the powers granted her by the T-virus she was able to fry a chip in the satellite.

Once free of it's control she went back to what she did best, eliminating the undead. When that threat was dealt with she took off for the building she had seen via the satellite imagery, followed by Kyle, Claire, and K-Mart. Alice made a bee-line for the white tent set up in the middle of the roof of the building, mentally shaking off the attempts the satellite made to regain control of her. She raised her hands, with a Glock 22 in each and fire both, the twin forty caliber slugs took out the two guards and she entered the tent, quickly killing all the Umbrella employees present.

Claire and K-Mart had followed Alice into the tent and were about to speak to the bioweapon when they heard a series of gunshots outside the tent. The three women rushed out to see what was going on, Alice cursing herself that she had relaxed before everything was over. They saw Kyle standing next to a helicopter with both pilots dead, a zombie with half its head missing and doctor Issacs, with a bite wound on his arm, in no better condition than the zombie. "Nice work kid!" Claire exclaimed, just before Kyle collapsed to the ground.

The trio of women rushed over to him and Alice checked the other bodies to make sure they were dead while Claire checked Kyle's injuries, he had two gunshot wounds, one that went through his left shoulder and another that grazed his head. "K-Mart! Go get Betty! Tell her to bring a stretcher." Claire ordered.

The blonde teen nodded and took off to find the former doctor. She found Betty taping up Mikey's ankle, which had been sprained when he escaped a group of infected. "Betty! Quick, we need you on the roof of the building…and we need a stretcher. Kyle's been shot!"

Betty nodded then turned to a pair of teens who she had been training the past couple months, "Jamie, Mark, grab the stretcher. K-Mart grab that box of supplies." She ordered pointing out the requested items in the back of the ambulance.

The group hurried up to the roof where Alice had cleared away the dead bodies and Claire was continuing to watch over the downed teen. Betty went to work right away first checking Kyle's pulse, which was strong, but a little erratic. After which she checked the head wound, "Thank God the bullet didn't fracture his skull." She said after a moment, happiness over that fact evident in her voice. "And the wound is his arm isn't life-threatening either, it clearly missed the major arteries."

"How can you tell?" Asked Mark.

"Cause if it had Kyle would already be dead and you'd be kneeling in a pool of blood right now. Cause the pressure Claire's been applying to his arm injury wouldn't have done a damned thing to stop the bleeding." Alice deadpanned.

Mark and Jamie paled momentarily, but recovered to help Betty get Kyle ready to move. Alice and Mark carried the stretcher back down the stairs and put Kyle on the bed in the ambulance. The remaining leaders gathered around the ambulance after everyone injured had been taken care of. "OK, so we need a secure place to base ourselves while we look for supplies." Claire started.

"Before that…" Carlos trailed off unable to finish so he held out his arm for the other to see, he had a bite wound on his forearm.

K-Mart was immediately wrecked seeing his injury and wrapped her arms tightly around the man who had become such a good friend to her. Claire was fighting back her own tears while Alice was just staring silently at his arm.

"How…" Betty started to ask.

"Undead managed to pull the cage off the window of the tanker where a couple of kids were hiding. I grabbed him and he bit me before I could shoot."

"God Dammit!" Chase exclaimed.

"How long?" K-Mart asked shakily.

None of the others wanted to answer and Carlos wrapped his good arm around the girl clinging to his side, "Two or three days." Alice finally said.

"OK guys, I'll be alright for a while. I just wanted y'all to know. We need to take care of the matters at hand now."

Alice turned to Betty, "You should probably check of everyone, just to be sure. I know LJ did the right thing, but he hid his bite from everyone too. We don't have to…take care of the infected right away, but we can't have people hiding things like that."

Claire nodded her agreement, "Yes, but first let's set up a safe point. That building with the helicopter should be good, I onlyt saw the one entrance and the window are all barred."

The others agreed, "We'll need to make up teams to go for supplies." Chase started, "I figure three teams, each with different goals. One goes to find a hospital, I saw one from my perch earlier with solar panels on the roof, and their supplies should still be good. Another team to find food and another to go find other necessities, like the cold weather gear and camping supplies."

"Good plan." Alice said, "If it's alright with you guys, I'll go look for weapons and ammo while the other teams are working taking care of their tasks. Is the kid gonna be OK?" She asked hesitantly.

"Yeah," Betty said looking at Alice curiously, "He'll be OK with some rest. He's not in a coma, which is very good, but he is probly gonna be out for quite a while."

"OK, let's get this show on the road. Chase you're gonna be in charge of the clothing and camping gear, figure out what you need and get a group to go with you. Betty, you're after the medical supplies, obviously. I'll head the team going for food, and K-Mart, you and Carlos watch over the others."

Everyone set about to carry out their tasks, Claire and K-Mart went to the Hummer, "Be careful out there Claire." K-Mart said suddenly, looking the convoy leader directly in the eye. "Don't take any risks. I don't wanna lose you. Besides, I need someone to keep me up at night with their snoring." She finished breaking into a grin.

Claire was instantly lost in K-mart's deep blue eyes, she could tell the girl was serious and shesaw something else conveyed in those still innocent eyes. She was brought back to reality, however by the comment about her snoring. "Hey I do not snore!" She exclaimed indignantly, "Besides, how would you know? You're always asleep before me and wake up after I'm already up."

"Not always Claire…sometimes I wake up before you and watch you sleep…and that sound a lot less creepy in my head."

The two women shared a short laugh as they got ready to carry out their missions. K-Mart walked back over to check on Kyle and saw Claire about ready to leave with her group. She walked over to the red head and gently grabbed her arm. "I was serious to Claire, about what I said earlier. I want you to be safe out there and come back in one piece." The young woman said so only Claire could here as she softly rubbed her hand up and down the smooth skin of the convoy leaders arm.

Claire shivered at the unexpected, but very welcome contact. She placed her hand under the younger woman's chin and said, "Don't worry K. I'll be back before you have time to miss me."

"I already miss you…" K-Mart whispered to herself as she watched Claire go out with her team.


End file.
